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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25852489">Tender Spots</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeorin/pseuds/kaeorin'>kaeorin</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Loki's Lullabies [139]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Avenger Loki (Marvel), Avenger Reader (Marvel), Bruises, Caretaking, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Minor Injuries, Reader-Insert</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 00:28:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,495</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25852489</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeorin/pseuds/kaeorin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When you come home injured after a mission, Loki is there.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Loki (Marvel)/Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Loki's Lullabies [139]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678240</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>219</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tender Spots</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I <i>think</i> I need to start bringing this series to a close—or at least getting y'all to adjust your expectations. Since I’ll be going back to school in September, I’m definitely not going to be able to post a new story every day like I’ve been doing. I’m thinking I may need to wrap up this series for now around the 150-story point, at least until my state wises up again and shuts down the schools until America can get its shit together. I have no idea what my days will look like when I’m back in the classroom, but I think I’ll be able to post at least one lullaby a week—like, on the weekends? I’m not sure. I’ll keep you posted! I’ve got at least ten more lullabies coming, though!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everything hurt.</p><p>You would have thought that, by now, you’d be more used to the full-body pain and aches that plagued you after a mission, but...you weren’t. Idly, you fantasized about slipping into the bubbling jacuzzi here in the Tower and letting the heat take care of all your spasming muscles, but the parts of you that didn’t actively hurt felt like they weighed about a hundred tons, so you didn’t bother to get up and look for your swimsuit. No, you’d just lie here a little longer, stretched out on the sofa in the sitting room. </p><p>You trained hard. You grit your teeth through all of Nat’s grueling training routines in the gym, and most days, you could even push yourself a little bit harder even after all of that. You were more than familiar with the satisfying ache of muscles that were regrowing, getting stronger. But being in an actual fight with actual evil was different. You were bruised, scraped, sprained, and broken, and it sucked.</p><p>Something in the back of your mind compelled you to bring your fingers up to your ribcage. At some point, someone had gotten you onto the ground and managed a devastating kick with their steel-toed Evil Boots, and though the doctor in the Tower had assured you that it hadn’t broken anything, it hurt like hell. You pressed your fingers against the tenderest center of the wound and closed your eyes at the pain. Maybe this was how you punished yourself for letting someone else hurt you, but you’d always had the bad habit of poking at your injuries so you could relish the pain.</p><p>You’d heal soon enough. Already you were trying to figure out how you could slip back into the gym without Steve noticing and sending you away again. That was probably another bad habit of yours, but you couldn’t help it. You were the rookie. The baby. Everyone else in the building had carried out hundreds of missions and made it home successfully after each one, but it was like you couldn’t get the hang of it. You needed to be stronger. Stealthier. More deadly. It was stupid to expect ever to become as badass as Natasha was, but you’d settle for at least not getting pulverized every time you went out.</p><p>Quiet footsteps in the hallway drew your attention to the door, and only moments later, someone said your name. Loki. A smile eased its way across your face and you didn’t bother to try to push away the warmth that flooded through you, the excitement. Whatever it was about you that had attracted his attention, you would never stop being grateful for it. The two of you spent a lot of time together, just sitting in comfortable silence or...doing other lovely things. The rest of the team didn’t really seem to understand your relationship with the Asgardian prince, but most of them at least seemed happy for you. </p><p>“When was your last painkiller?” You loved his voice. He had a way of speaking to you that was just...<i>more</i> than his normal voice. He sounded at once warm and aloof: he was curious about your condition and maybe even concerned, but he wasn’t about to worry over you like a mother hen. He was exactly what you needed, especially when you were in this state, and, for perhaps the thousandth time, you sent out a silent prayer of gratitude for his mere existence.</p><p>Some part of you wanted to sit up to greet him, but you didn’t even try. “This morning? Or last night? It was dark outside.” You could remember waking up in a hazy dreamlike state and fumbling with the bottle that the doctor had given you, but you couldn’t remember much more than that.</p><p>“That’s what I thought. Here.” He approached you, and held out his hand. With some effort, you lifted your own to take whatever it was he was offering. A pill dropped into your palm, and you certainly weren’t going to refuse it. You started to struggle into a sitting position, which left space for Loki to settle onto the sofa where your head had just been resting. He helped you sit up enough to sip some water from the glass he held and then, when that whole ordeal was over, he pressed you back down so that your head was resting in his lap.</p><p>“My hero...” You kept your voice light, kept a thin veneer of humor on the words so that you’d have plausible deniability. When you said things like that a little too sincerely, he got uncomfortable. The best you could figure was that he still didn’t think he deserved such a title. Obviously you knew where he’d come from and what he’d done, but he’d spent the last several years putting good into the world (or taking evil out of it), so you hated that he still felt so unworthy. He rolled his eyes a little and pressed his hand against your forehead. </p><p>“I trust your attackers have been eliminated?” It was a routine question. When you came back injured from your first mission after the two of you became a Thing, Loki had demanded to know what became of the one who’d hurt you. He’d been tense and angry, taking in the state of your body, until you’d assured him that you had personally watched them take their last breaths. He didn’t like seeing you hurt, but the only way he could accept your continued work was if you promised him that anyone who hurt you was no longer around.</p><p>“Mm-hmm.” It was hard to take any pleasure in death, even in the deaths of your enemies. “Thor and I got ‘em all.”</p><p>He scoffed at the sound of his brother’s name. He had not been happy to be left out of this mission. He’d demanded to be added to the roster, but the higher-ups hadn’t budged an inch. They’d sent you for stealth and Thor for brawn and that was it. Looking back, you might not be quite as bad-off as you were if you’d had Loki around for backup, but...hindsight was 20/20, after all.</p><p>Silence settled in around you, then. You loved that about him: that he did not feel the need to fill every second with constant jabbering. You closed your eyes again and allowed yourself to delight in the way it felt to be there in his lap. Being who you were, you didn’t often need or want to feel particularly small or protected, but, when you did, Loki was perfect for the job. He was stroking your forehead now, working his fingers through your hair to your scalp. Did he know what he did to you? Did he know what he meant to you?</p><p>After some time, you felt his cool fingers probing gently at the swelling around your eye. That one was particularly embarrassing. Whenever someone got close enough to punch you in your face, you were typically pretty good about taking them out before they could lay a finger on you. But you’d been distracted, calling out some order or warning to Thor, and you’d gotten sucker-punched. Your instinct now was to flinch away from the touch, but you held steady. Loki would never hurt you.</p><p>Perhaps as a reward for your trust, you felt the temperature of his hand drop significantly, and you had to sigh with relief as his icy touch soothed the tender skin. “<i>Thank you</i>.” You put as much weight, as much emotion, into the words as you could, but they still felt so inadequate. </p><p>“Of course.” He sounded almost amused, despite the situation, and continued to press gently against your skin. “I’d much rather you come back in one piece, but you know I’ll be here to make it better.”</p><p>You reached up, then to cover his hand with yours, and allowed yourself to smile. You didn’t look at him, but you suspected he was probably watching your face. “But if I didn’t come home all messed up like this, you’d never touch me like this...” It was a joke, of course, because he couldn’t keep his hands off of you when the two of you were alone, but you were still trying to keep things sort of light.</p><p>He laughed again, a quick burst of air as though you’d surprised it out of him, and you felt him dig the fingers of his free hand against your uninjured side. “Mortal, just you wait until you’re healed up. I’ll make you <i>eat your words</i>.”</p><p>You let yourself smile even wider, and opened one eye to look up at him. He was scowling at you, but his eyes were glinting in a way that made you feel a little warmer inside. You drew in a breath, but did not bother replying. His eyes said so much. You could only hope that yours did the same.</p>
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